View full size01.05.12. MIDDLETON, Mass. - Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Marisa DeFranco, a North Shore federal immigration lawyer, as seen in her Middleton, Mass. campaign office. (Staff photo by Robert Rizzuto)

MIDDLETON — U.S. Senate candidate Marisa DeFranco thinks Sen. Scott Brown talks more about being a moderate than his actual views indicate. She says that her Democratic competitor Elizabeth Warren lacks actual ideas and has been skipping public forums across the commonwealth so voters can't compare candidates.

DeFranco, as she recalls the past 14 years running her own immigration law firm in Middleton, said that her experience working with federal law and negotiating agreements is what makes her the best Democratic candidate to unseat Brown in November.

"If you are really tired of politics as usual, look at my views and give me a chance," DeFranco said. "I've written every word on my website and explained each of my ideas. I'm a better candidate than Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown because I would go to Washington and use my experiences to fight for the average person rather than just saying so."

DeFranco is up against Warren, a consumer advocate and Harvard Law School professor, and Dover attorney James Coyne King, in an effort to gain her party's nomination to run against Brown, who won his seat in a special election two years ago following the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy.

DeFranco, who grew up in Erie, Pa. descends from grandparents who came to the U.S. from Sicily and Italy. She said her husband's parents came to the U.S. from China. They all shared a determination to create a better life for themselves, DeFranco said, and that is something which motivates her as an immigration lawyer every day.

"A lot of people will say to me that their grandparents came legally, and why can't immigrants do that today?" DeFranco said. "But what they don't realize is that back then there was an open border policy. Now you can only come through an immediate relative or through business. There are asylum cases, but those are much more complicated. It is not easy or cheap to become a U.S. citizen, although the process does have its fair points such as a citizenship option following five years with a green card."

DeFranco said what gets lost in much of the "hysteria" about immigration is that many immigrants today, like previous generations, are looking for a better chance to make it and some are simply looking to survive.

"I've had a number of asylum cases in my career," DeFranco said. "Lawyers don't usually get to say they saved someone's life but I get to say that, and I'm proud of it."

One example of such a case involved a gay, hearing impaired man from Uganda who DeFranco helped become an American citizen. In his native country, same-sex relationships are illegal and pending legislation in Uganda would apply the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality."

The man was eventually granted asylum by the U.S. government following a legal process that spanned more than a year, with DeFranco's assistance.

She said it is the cases like that which make her happy she decided not to become a prosecutor as she initially intended. It is also the fight involved in those cases which make DeFranco believe she is ready to take a role in the U.S. Senate, to fight for the people of Massachusetts.

One example she cited where more of a fight would have been beneficial is the healthcare overhaul and its exclusion of a public option which would have made health insurance companies compete with the federal government.

"The mandate to buy coverage from the health insurance companies, which is a Republican idea, is the crux of the problem," DeFranco said. "I'm glad we did something on the national level but the Democrats really capitulated on the public option and that was a mistake. They started with the public option as their top marker. It's classic negotiation 101, you negotiate high to end up at middle or high ground of where you want to end. They should have started with single-payer and they would have ended up with a public option. Poll after poll showed that 70 percent of people wanted a public option. It's just an option. If the insurance companies are really behind their free market mentality, then operate in a market. And if the government is your competitor and you're so much better than the government, compete."

Also on the topic of healthcare, DeFranco said she believes the system has to change further because she has seen first-hand the effect it can have on those practicing medicine.

"My father was a doctor and my mother was a pediatric surgeon and a nurse. He ran his own practice and I saw the healthcare companies running good doctors out of their business," DeFranco said. "I watched them work really hard and finally come to a point where they couldn't practice the way they wanted to do it."

She said she supports single-payer healthcare, funded through taxes, to pay the doctors.

"Don't fall for the myth that a single-payer system is going to ration care," DeFranco said. "If we had single-payer and people had good care for the first 40 or 50 years of their lives, when they hit 65 we would save so much money with Medicare because they would be healthier. That's how you save money in the long-run."

DeFranco said she also has a plan for putting unemployed Americans back to work. She said it centers on investing $100 billion over two years to create two million green jobs in the short-term. Renewable energy is something the candidate believes could provide benefits to not only the currently unemployed but also future generations.

The long-term plan involves spending $500 billion jobs to create five million jobs over a period of ten years, which could be partially funded by closing corporate tax loopholes which DeFranco says "allows corporations to duck paying their fair share."

"The difference between me and other candidates is that I actually have a plan," DeFranco said. "Like I've said on the campaign trail, we deficit-spent to win World War II and ended up with a stronger economy from it. This is a classic (example) of investing government money to gain a much bigger return on our investment."

DeFranco, like Warren and Brown, is against the Stop Online Piracy Act and its Senate counterpart the Protect Intellectual Property Act. The bills came under heavy criticism recently after individuals and technology companies charged that the legislation was overreaching and would stifle freedom and technological advancements in relation to the Internet in an effort to curtail piracy.

"The open flow of information on the Internet is vital to our democracy and our economy," DeFranco said. "These bills overreach and will stifle free speech and hurt small businesses who depend on the Internet because they do not have the marketing budgets of big firms."

DeFranco is not unsympathetic to the plight of the motion picture and recording industries, she said, but she believes that legislation must be balanced with common sense and consideration of freedom and the free market.

And when she is not fighting legal battles in a federal courtroom, DeFranco said she enjoys watching TV shows like "Modern Family" and reruns of "Seinfeld," "Monk" and "Law and Order."

"I like comedy, drama and anything that has a touch of mystery where you have to figure something out," she said. "But I do have a problem with legal shows that don't depict the process properly. I know it's entertainment but people can get the wrong ideas from those shows."

A few years back, DeFranco and her husband appeared as extras in the pilot episode of The Practice, a predecessor to the award-winning TV show "Boston Legal."

DeFranco, who has a mother, sister and brother who are all musically inclined, said she enjoys listening to a variety of different genres as well as playing the piano. And she makes no apologies for what she plays in her car when she wants to rock out.

"I got some grief on Facebook over liking Journey," DeFranco said. "This guy said he couldn't vote for me over liking Journey. I guess if that's how you're choosing your candidates, good luck."